Love U Down

5. Myome #3

It was obvious from looking at Joe that all of her children resembled her. She had a lighter complexion than them so I assumed they got that from their father but they had the same facial structure and she had light brown eyes like both Rome and Drix.

“Nice to see you again.” Chandler closed in on me.

“Thanks for having me.” I gave her a small smile and she winked.

“It’s nice to have you here, Myome,” Joe said softly. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. Dinner shouldn’t be too much longer.”

“Do you need help with anything?” I asked.

“Oh, no! Chan and I are almost at the finish line. Besides, you’re a guest. We can’t have you working in here.” She giggled. “Just take a seat somewhere.”

“Okay.” I looked over at Drix. He nudged his head toward the far door, his niece now fully laying on him while he supported her with one hand.

I followed his lead and waited in the hallway for him to walk out behind me. We both paused as a child ran past us, damn near barreling into Drix.

“Well damn!” he said loudly. “Good to see you too, Vy.”

“Hi, Uncle B! Bye, Uncle B!” the little girl screamed back at us but never stopped trucking.

“That’s Chandler’s other daughter, Vienna,” he said in explanation. “If we can ever tie her down, you’ll meet her later.”

I laughed but nodded at that.

He led me further into the house, and when we got to the living room, three men were sitting together.

“Myome, that’s my pops, Hendrix, and my brother-in-law, Lee. You already know stupid ass Rome,” Drix said as he walked further inside. “Y’all, this is Myome.”

“His wife,” Rome added before Drix could.

“Wife?” His father repeated.

“Congratulations,” Lee said simply.

“Thank you.” Drix reached over and popped Rome behind the head so hard I cringed at the sound.

“You got married?” His father looked up at me.

“Yeah.” Drix didn’t elaborate, just walked over and dapped him.

Hendrix was definitely where everyone had gotten their deep complexion and now that he was in front of me I saw a few similarities between his facial structure and his children’s.

I also noticed his father was seated in a wheelchair.

“Nice to meet you.” I offered Hendrix the bottle in my hand. “I got this for you.”

“Thank you.” He took the bottle, set it in his lap, and grabbed my hand instead. “Nice to meet you.” He shook my hand, then held it briefly and flipped it. I watched while he inspected the ring on my finger. “Is this a real marriage?” he asked.

“Man, watch out.” Drix chuckled as he dapped his brother-in-law.

“It wasn’t a trick question.” His father looked at me. I looked at Drix.

“What made you ask that?” Drix ignored the question.

“The ring’s a little small don’t you think?” Hendrix let my hand go.

Rome, Lee, and I all chuckled. Drix reached over and popped Rome behind the head again, making him duck and laugh harder.

“Rome let me pick that shit out.” He threw his brother under the bus, walked over to the next couch and collapsed, shifting India to his shoulder and rubbing her back.

“We had limited options,” Rome said. “And I was fucked up too.”

“You were fucked up?” Hendrix repeated.

“Mentally,” Drix inserted. “Not with drugs or no shit like that.”

“Mm.” He looked between his sons then back at me.

“Nice to meet you.” Lee sat up and offered me his hand.

“Nice to meet you.” I shook his hand.

“It was after two in the morning and we were at a twenty-four hour chapel. We did what we could,” Rome added and climbed to his feet. “Good to see you again though, sister-in-law.” He hugged me briefly and sat down.

I walked over to Drix and sat beside him.

“So, when are you going to upgrade it?” Hendrix asked.

“It’s not that fucking bad.” Drix reached over, grabbed my hand, and lifted it. He tilted his head one way then the other.

I personally didn’t see an issue with my ring. It was cute to me. It wasn’t a shape I would have chosen but it was a good size.

“Sweetheart, what is that?” Hendrix asked. “One carat?”

“Two and a half.” Drix let my hand go. “And I’m going to upgrade it,” he said. “We just haven’t gotten around to it.”

“Mm.” His father nodded and looked at me. “Make sure he upgrades it.”

“What happened to wedding rings being signs of love and commitment?” Drix asked. “Since when are they status symbols?”

“They’ve always been status symbols, Berlin.

” His father shrugged. “If you can spend thousands of dollars on liquor, cars, and that big ass watch on your wrist, you can upgrade this lady’s ring.

Shit. You should want your wife to be a reflection of you.

How are you going to walk around flexing money and can’t even get your wife a suitable ring?

It’s not like you had to pay for a damn wedding. ”

“Myome has never complained about her wedding ring.”

I lifted my hand and wiggled my fingers.

“I don’t know. Another carat or two couldn’t hurt,” I teased.

Drix shot me a look. Rome turned his head to stop himself from just full out laughing. Hendrix snapped his fingers and pointed at me.

“See!” He leaned forward “Myome, don’t ever let a man try to tell you that you’ll settle if you love them. If they loved you, they’d rise to the occasion.”

“Yes, sir.” I nodded once.

“I hear you, Pops.” Drix shifted Indy to his other shoulder. “You beating a dead horse now, man.”

“Alright. I’m done.” He held his hands up in surrender and I smiled.

I decided immediately that I liked Drix’s parents.

I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting but they were better than I could have hoped.

Even though they’d just found out about our marriage, they weren’t digging into us or expressing displeasure.

They actively welcomed me into their family in their own way.

“Dinner is ready!” Chandler yelled from the kitchen.

“Thank God. Shit. I thought I was going to start choking with how hard Pops had me laughing in here.” Rome snickered a little as he climbed up and everyone followed suit.

Drix handed Indy over to her father and walked over to his dad to roll his wheelchair to the dining room.

The women had already set the food on the table and everyone gravitated toward seats that let me know they usually sat in the same spots.

“Right here.” Drix tapped the back of the chair he wanted me to sit in.

We sat side by side and I noted his eyes drift to the ring on my finger before my face. I did my best to hide my little laugh and he shook his head.

Dinner was nice. Everything tasted amazing and it was strange to see Drix with his family but humanizing all the same. It was hard to picture the aloof and standoffish man he presented on social media, interviews, and even in recording sessions being the way he was with his family.

Rome, however, was exactly who he was in the media. We’d only been at the table for fifteen minutes when he and Vienna both threw something across the table at each other.

Everyone talked about their weeks, starting with Vienna and Indy, then drifting to Hendrix, Joe, Lee, Chandler, Rome, and Drix.

Then Joe turned toward me.

“And what do you do, Myome?”

“I sing,” I announced.

“So the two of you met at work?”

“Yeah. My label hired Dr— Berlin”—I corrected myself—“to produce a song for our upcoming album.”

“So it was love at first sight?” she asked.

“Something like that,” I nodded.

“Well, you must be something special because I don’t think Berlin has ever done something without thinking it all the way through.” Hendrix smiled at me then him.

“And I’m glad he was even open enough to build a relationship worthy of marriage.” His mother beamed. “I’m proud of you, baby,” she told him. “And I’m honored to have you be a part of the family, Myome.”

“We both are,” Hendrix added. “And we want the two of you to have a long and happy life together.”

“Thank you.” I gave them the best smile I could but honestly felt bad about lying to Drix’s parents.

The entire family seemed to just get sweeter and sweeter as the night went on. When we finally headed out, I wasn’t sure how often I’d be able to spend time with them and keep up the lie.

Joe and Hendrix made me promise not to be a stranger and Indy and Vienna both gave me quick hugs with no urging from their family on the way out. When I collapsed into Drix’s vehicle, a sigh ripped itself through me.

Drix waved at his parents then walked around his whip to climb into the driver’s seat.

“I don’t know how you’re able to lie to your parents,” I said immediately.

“I never lied. I told them we were married. I told them I planned on upgrading your ring. I told them stupid ass Rome let me pick out the one currently on your finger.”

“Love at first sight?”

“You agreed to that statement. I didn’t.” He turned his key in the ignition and checked his windows.

“They’re all so sweet.” I ignored his accusation. “How’d you turn out like this?” I gestured to him.

He chuckled.

“I’m the nicest nigga you know.” He waved me off before backing out.

“I know you don’t actually believe that shit.”

“Nah. I don’t,” he admitted. “But I’m like this specifically because they are so sweet,” he said.

“Somebody in the family got to hold shit down. My parents did that shit enough raising us and Chandler did that shit enough when she had to start parenting me and Rome. They deserve to be nice and sweet and living in la la fucking land. All the shit that could fuck with that peace is gon’ have to go through me first.”

I nodded.

“I thought you didn’t have a family story.”

“What?”

“When you asked what my story was, I told you. When I asked you, you said you didn’t have one.”

Drix shrugged and we sat in silence for a few miles.

Then, he exhaled and leaned further back in his seat.

“My parents got together young. My mom was a teacher. My pops was in the military. We were comfortable, middle class till Pops got hurt. Bad.” He glanced at me then back at the road.

“The VA was on bullshit and money dwindled quick. My mom picked up a second job while my dad was just spiraling and trying to figure out how to make shit shake. They sold their vehicles and all kinds of shit to take care of us. I started hustling. Chandler started waitressing. We were making shit work the best we could. I dropped out to hustle more and you know how dudes on the block be fucking around. We would shoot dice and shit and I fucked around and freestyled. It turned out I was good. I started paying most of the bills so our mom could quit one of her jobs. She didn’t.

She started pouring money into therapy for my pops.

I started putting my extra money into a savings account for Chandler to go to college.

“Chandler got pregnant with Vienna while she was still in school by some stupid ass dude who didn’t want to step up.

He ended up getting stomped out by me and Rome but that ain’t make him want to be a father.

It just made us feel better.” He scoffed.

“Another mouth to feed is what got Rome on the streets. Chandler offered to drop out and get a fulltime job instead but even then we all knew she was our way out. One year for Christmas, she gifted me studio time. I thought that shit was dumb, but after she broke down how much money she’d wasted that could have gone in my niece’s stomach and I found out I couldn’t knock niggas out to get her a refund, I decided to take it serious, and bam, it hit.

I paid off my parents’ house with that first check and had Chandler’s college fund taken care of with that second one.

We haven’t looked back since.” He glanced over at me.

“That’s why we’re close the way we are I guess. ”

I nodded at that. “Damn and my family don’t even talk to each other regularly.”

“Yeah, well if that’s the case, you ain’t missing shit.

” He shrugged. “What my pops say? Don’t ever let somebody try to tell you that you’ll settle if you love them.

If they loved you, they’d rise to the occasion.

That shit’s real for family too. Don’t lay yo’ expectations and shit down to have no mothafucka smiling in yo’ face. You don’t need them.”

“I know.” I grinned.

“Then say that shit, Yo.”

“I don’t need them.”

“Fucking right.” He nodded, reached forward, and flipped the music on.

He glanced over, the corners of his mouth tilted slightly upward and the sight made a huge grin take over my face.